


A Second Such Encounter

by Valerie_Vancollie



Category: Numb3rs (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst and Feels, Angst with a Happy Ending, Blood, Blood and Injury, Brother-Brother Relationships, Brotherly Love, Brothers, Canon Compliant, Canon Era, Canon Universe, Canon-Typical Violence, Challenge Response, Community: numb3rs100, Dark, Drabble, Drabble Collection, FBI, Family, Family Drama, Family Feels, Gen, Head Injury, Heavy Angst, Injury, Injury Recovery, LiveJournal, LiveJournal Prompt, Major Character Injury, Mathematicians, Mathematics, Originally Posted on LiveJournal, POV Charlie, POV Charlie Eppes, POV Male Character, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Quadruple Drabble, Serious Injuries, Shooting, Short, Short & Sweet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 07:55:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18545542
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Valerie_Vancollie/pseuds/Valerie_Vancollie
Summary: Statistically, you're dead now. You understand what that means? A man aimed a gun at your head and fired. The fact that you survived is an anomaly, and it's unlikely to be the outcome of a second such encounter.





	1. Blood

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old fic being posted here for the first time now that I have an AO3 account. Unlike for my other fic, my original site for this fandom still exists and is [3695](https://valeriev84.livejournal.com).
> 
> **Time:** between Seasons 1 & 5  
>  **Spoilers:** _Uncertainty Principle_  
>  **Note:** I have collated what was originally a 4 drabble series into 1 fic here. They were my response to the January 2009 rewind prompts at [numb3rs100 comm](https://numb3rs100.livejournal.com/).

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> He'd promised to stay in the Suburban...

Charlie waited impatiently, watching Don for the signal that the scene was secure. It should be any minute now as the team had searched the premises.

Don was talking with Megan when the gunshot rang out. From his seat, Charlie could only watch in horror as Don's body jerked, his head snapping back before he dropped. Instead of his brother, he was left looking at Megan's stunned face which was spattered with blood.

Don's blood.

The thought jolted him out of his stupor and Charlie looked down at his brother's body and the growing pool of blood around his head.


	2. Luck

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Charlie is haunted by his own words and the math behind them.

Charlie grasped his brother's limp hand as he sat in the back of the ambulance. The numbers threatened to rush in, but he forced them aside.

' _-unlikely to be the outcome of a second such-_ '

The words echoed through his head. _His_ words.

Charlie pushed them aside, he couldn't think about what he'd said. He'd calculated it, the odds of what had happened... of it happening again.

Don should be dead.

They'd all been shocked he still had a pulse. It was pure luck Don had survived the shot, but that didn't mean he was safe. The odds of-

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep.


	3. Bullet

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After hours of surgery, the doctor finally comes out to speak with Charlie.

"Your brother was very lucky, the bullet hit his head at just the right angle so that it followed the curve of his skull rather than going through it. A millimeter in either direction and he wouldn't have survived."

"Will he be alright?"

"We've done all that we can, extracted the bullet and stopped the bleeding, the rest is up to Don. With these types of injuries it is difficult to determine whether there is any brain damage until the patient wakes up."

"When will that be?"

"It depends, it could be tomorrow or he could slip into a coma."


	4. Survival

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ...the odds were staggering...

"What happened?" Don asked.

"You were lucky, extremely lucky," Charlie stated, still not fully able to believe it. He'd done the calculations and the odds were staggering, especially considering what had happened during the Charm School Boys case. "Almost impossibly so."

"Head shots are notoriously difficult," Don argued, shuddering at the mere thought.

"No, Mitchell's shot was good, you just moved your head at precisely the right instant."

"I did?"

"Megan says you were done talking to her, you were probably turning to face me."

"To give you the all clear," Don realized, horrified at how close it had been.

 

January 2009


End file.
